The Vocational and Occupational Interest Choice Examination (VOICE) was designed to measure the interests of enlisted men entering the Air Force. Items forming the inventory were primarily generated by examining job analysis in relation to the airman classification structure. The purpose of this effort was to develop and validate a prototype of an…

Research was undertaken to develop a system for predicting completion time in a self-paced training course. The hypotheses were developed that: 1) course content-related instruments would be better predictors of completion time than general aptitude measures; and that 2) a linear predictive function would provide the best description of the…

National Assessment is a data gathering project designed to provide information, in ten subject areas, about knowledge, skills, understandings and attitudes of young people in this country, and to assess changes in these variables over time. The data is collected and reported at the item level. Each exercise was developed with emphasis on content…

The rationale and development of a new series of motion picture tests of perceptual abilities of young children are described, and preliminary data regarding their reliability and validity are presented. The data suggests that the film tests are promising new perceptual measurement instruments. (MS)

The purpose of these studies was to develop and demonstrate a model for identifying criterion levels of performance that can be rationally defended as being the best level of performance for a particular instructional task. The specific objective was to identify the score on a cloze test that represents the most desirable level of performance on…

This research investigated the use of the Rasch simple logistic model in item and test calibration. Tests employing word, picture, symbol, and number analogies were administered to college students, high school students, civil service clerical employees, and clients of the Minnesota Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. The results suggest that…

This paper highlights some special characteristics of criterion-referenced tests while comparing them with norm-referenced tests. Psychometric considerations involved in constructing a criterion-referenced test, including item analysis, reliability, and validity, are discussed, along with application of criterion-referenced testing to individual…

This conference report of the second annual meeting of the Society for Applied Linguistics contains 38 articles grouped under the following headings: (1) technology and multimedia instruction, (2) theory of translation, (3) the didactics of foreign language instruction, (4) a description of present-day language and linguistics, (5)…

The Multilingual Test Development Project, recently completed in Seattle, Washington, has yielded a series of comparable oral proficiency tests in six languages designed for use with elementary school children, K-6. Extensive field-testing of the English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog, and Ilokano tests was conducted with a research sample…

The corpus of descriptive terminology associated with achievement testing has expanded considerably in recent years, in large part due to the heightened interest in absolute and/or direct metrics for interpreting test performance plus the development of more rigorous strategies for specifying test content. Widely prevalent disagreement about…

Two types of student response inventories for appraising instruction, the Student Instruction Report (SIR) and the Inventory of Student Perceptions of Instruction (ISPI) were administered to 554 students in 30 classes at two Georgia colleges. Mean responses to items were used in principal components analyses with varimax rotation. The two…

An instrument was developed to enable a comparison of work values of teachers, parents, and students. It was then utilized to investigate the differences between student groups, within and between schools of different curricula, between vocational and academic teachers and parents of students. The instrument, based on constructs obtained from a…

Outlines a method to write multiple (four) versions of each examination. Reviews some advantages and disadvantages of multiple-choice and open-ended problems. Considers the writing and grading techniques used. Reports that the examination met the consistency requirement and received a good evaluation from students. (YP)

Provides reviews of six computer software programs designed for use in elementary science education programs. Provides the title, publisher, grade level, and descriptions of courseware on ant farms, drugs, genetics, beachcombing, matter, and test generation. (TW)

Discusses a program in Nigeria designed to improve the teaching skills of medical school teachers. Describes a workshop designed to provide teachers with skills in curriculum design, audiovisual aids, knowledge assessment, simulations, the development of self-instruction packets, and writing objectives. (TW)